


i have never reached such heights

by rae_marie



Series: Fusionverse AU [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: 'cos that's just how my mind works, AU, Dr Nyarlathotep, Gen, dw fusion au, it's an au-type-thing where time lords can fuse, so yeah this isn't a crossover, with a bit of eldritch time lord stuff thrown in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 09:57:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18008768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: The Doctor had an idea of how to save the day, but Ace wasn't sure it would work so well.





	i have never reached such heights

Ace couldn’t believe the size of it as they stepped out of the TARDIS. It was off in a corner, looking shifty while decimating a giant tree, and Ace pulled her head back in the TARDIS and shut the door.

‘Professor, you might wanna form one of your brilliant plans before we go out there.’

‘Oh?’ He raised an eyebrow without looking at her. ‘And why would that be, Ace?’

‘That dinosaur’s bigger than a house and it’s just out there chomping on a tree like it’s celery!’

‘Oh - that’s not good; trust me; I know a lot about celery.’ He turned the scanner on again and watched the giant creature. ‘Hmm….you’re probably right….it _is_ rrrather larger than I expected.’ He rolled the r in ‘larger’ more exaggeratedly than normal, and Ace knew he was worried; he was faking lightheartedness, and he only really did that when there was something wrong. She watched him as he picked up a piece of paper and started doodling complicated diagrams and Gallifreyan writing all over it. She came over to watch.

‘What’re you writing?’ she asked.

‘Mmm….’ he mumbled, and Ace rolled her eyes. She watched him for a while longer, when suddenly he shouted

‘ _Aha!_ ’

….which made her jump - and he waved the paper in front of her face.

‘There is this kind of transformation that Time Lords can do in extremis, and I have been trying to do calculations - to see if we could possibly do it _together_.’

‘Oh, Professor, you know I’m human - I _can’t_ regenerate, though it _would_ come in handy if I got stomped on by T-Rex out there - ‘

‘No, no, _no_ , Ace - this is different than rrregenerrration. This is….’

He paused for dramatic emphasis.

‘.... _fusion!_ ’

Ace stared, then crooked an eyebrow.

‘And what’s “ _fusion!_ ” when it’s at home?’

‘Fusion is a complicated process, not unlike regeneration, in which two beings turn into another, larger entity; in reality, it’s linked to other dimensions, and….oh….I’m not explaining very well, am I?’

Ace shook her head.

The Doctor sighed, then thought for a while. Ace wondered what on earth this whole fusion thing had to do with her; it wasn’t like she was some sort of interdimensional alien or anything. Then the Doctor finally spoke.

‘You realise that I actively exist in more dimensions than you, yes?’

‘Yeah, I get that.’

‘Well, those dimensions can shift, and you can use them as well, if you focus hard enough. And if we both use them _together_ , we could turn into something powerful that could quite possibly be capable of stopping our friend out there without hurting it! Which is our goal, really; it doesn’t realise the damage it’s doing.’

‘I don’t understand how that could work, though,’ Ace said.

‘Simple!’ The Doctor smiled, and waved his paper around again. ‘You _dance!_ ’

*****

Ace leant over the Doctor’s shoulder and watched as he flipped through the records. He had said she had to dance straight from her _soul_ , and to choose a record that made her feel herself, and so they were in the library trying to find a good, danceable one. Ace pointed when he came to one with a colourful, rainbow spectrum of a cover.

‘That one!’ Ace said. The Doctor smiled and took it out of the crate. He took the giant disk out of the sleeve, put it on a nearby record player, and delicately put the needle on the middle of the disk and turned the player on.

The beat dropped, and Ace grinned.

‘Are you ready?’ the Doctor asked.

Ace nodded enthusiastically.

She spun around the library to the beat; the woman’s quiet voice filling the room while the sound of unearthly keyboards swirled around her ears.

_I have never reached_

_Such heights_

_I feel music in_

_Your eyes_

_I have never reached_

_Such heights…._

The chorus of voices sang, and Ace reached her arms out and took hold of the Doctor’s hands; they spun together in a dizzy experience of melody and movement.

_I go to those places_

_Where we used to go_

_They seem so quiet now_

_I’m here all alone…._

_Well,_ I’m _certainly not alone_ , Ace thought, and spun the Doctor before spinning herself, and then all was blue light, and a flash, and then she felt….

_different._

She looked around, and then down, and then realised she had a yellow question mark sweater on over her black shirt.

She gasped.

 _I….Doctor, are you there….?_ she thought, tentatively.

 _I’m here, and so are you_ , she heard in her mind.

She looked around again, and then walked over to the polished metal bookshelf in the corner and looked at her….their….reflection.

They were about a foot taller than before, and one of their eyes was blue-grey, and the other was brown, but Ace was most surprised by their hair, which was still in a ponytail, but was long and dark and curly.

She grinned.

This was amazing.

Her mind felt like it was still dancing with the Doctor, and perhaps it was, on another plane she couldn’t see.

‘I’m an illusion….but real….how did I….I just exploded into life….’ they said.

 _The Pyromagician_ , Ace thought.

 _That sounds about right_ , the Doctor thought back, and they spun around in delight.

‘Let’s go and set the world to rights!’ they said, and, laughing, ran back out into the corridor and towards the console room.

*****

The dinosaur looked confusedly at them as they ran up.

‘You must stop,’ they said. ‘You’re destroying the planet, and people are going to get hurt.’

The dinosaur made a grumbling sound, and bared its teeth at them.

‘Now, now, that’s not the way to say thank you!’ the Pyromagician said. ‘We’re gonna take you to a new home, where there’s lots of nice trees to eat that’ll grow back quick!’

The dinosaur roared, and lumbered forward at a dangerous pace; the Pyromagician leaned on their umbrella and thought quickly, and then reached out with its interdimensional limbs and gently lifted the (rather surprised) dinosaur and started carrying him towards the TARDIS. They had a hard time getting him in the door, but somehow they managed (they suspected the TARDIS herself helped), and took him to a large, lush green room with trees and plants galore, to wait while they took it to its new home.

*****

The Pyromagician stood by the console.

 _I don’t want to stop_ , Ace thought. She felt the Doctor smile.

_Understandable. Shall we dance around the console before we return?_

_That sounds ace_ . She laughed in giddy joy as the Pyromagician swirled around the beautiful, glowing table full of levers and buttons that could take you _anywhere_ , and at the side of your best friend as well, and then they twirled around, and then the Doctor was holding her hand as she spun around, back in the normal dimensions, and she smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her, and they had stopped dancing, and she just reached out and hugged him.

‘That. Was. _Amazing_ ,’ she gasped.

They stood there for a while, and Ace revelled in the memory of what had just happened. It had been like flying in a universe of song and joy, and she never wanted to forget it.

‘Shall we bring our new friend to his new home?’ the Doctor said.

‘Yeah. Let’s do that.’

She looked at him and smiled.

‘Thanks, Professor. You’re the best.’

‘As are _you_ ,’ he replied.

The Doctor went over to the console, and set coordinates for some planet unknown to Ace, and she found that thrilling.

**Author's Note:**

> It took a while to figure out which song Ace and the Doctor could dance to, but as soon as [ 'Loud Places' by Jamie xx ](https://youtu.be/yhXTwIH0e4U) came to mind, I couldn't let the idea go, so not only is that the song they're dancing to, that's quoted in the fic, but the song is where the title came from as well.
> 
> Also credit should go to the fic [ Time and Twinford (the unlimited rice pudding remix) ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13774665/chapters/31659876) for putting the idea in my head that Time Lords can reach through dimensions invisibly.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [something else that makes this tune complete](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18109691) by [Kitty Eden (TheBigCat)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigCat/pseuds/Kitty%20Eden)




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